


Stolen

by Qille



Series: The Vengeance Series [4]
Category: The Yogscast
Genre: Blood, Enderbeast, Gen, Kidnapping, Shadow of Israphel, Swearing, Torture, Violence, the zoethian bits are only at the end though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-22
Updated: 2015-11-08
Packaged: 2018-04-27 15:38:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5054353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Qille/pseuds/Qille
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been two months since Israphel attacked, and everything was peaceful and mostly happy. Naturally, everything goes wrong again when Israphel escapes the End and has his revenge. Now it's up to Honeydew, the only one left standing, to save his friends from the clutches of evil.</p><p>They're doomed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Escape and Capture

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, so spoilers for Vengeance if you haven't read it. This story is a lot shorter than some of my others, but it's also really important, so I hope you guys enjoy.

**Prologue**

It was finally complete. After all this time – all the pain and anger.

He held up the device to examine it, his form flickering from mostly solid to mostly transparent.

It was the blood that had done it. The Enderman and Ender Dragon blood had been plentiful and somewhat easy to obtain, but he had also been lucky to get enough of the blood of the Enderborn and the Enderbeast to make it work.

The magic he had used was dark, of course. He had ripped the teleportation energy from the blood and condensed it in the cracked blue power crystal from the back of the salvaged power glove.

The rest of the metal he had used to make a gun.

It was time to leave.

He only had one shot at this. After the first and only charge, the energy from the blood would be lost, and he had no more blood of the Enderbeast to make a new one.

He calibrated it for the Nether.

Then he aimed it at the ground and pulled the trigger.

There was a sharp crack, and a bright purple and blue light shot from the end of the gun, hitting the ground and opening a small portal.

With an evil, Creeper-like grin, Israphel stepped through the portal and into the Nether.

**XXX**

Lalna ran around his castle, gathering materials and taking them back down to his lab. He was a bit frantic because of the... _explosiveness_ of his new experiment. 

He had promised he would stop building new explosives, but this one was more for his own sanity than for the purposes of mass destruction. He needed to keep his mind occupied and at least guarantee his safety – and the safety of his friends – even further.

As he carried an armful of supplies, he tripped and fell. The bucket of lava he had been holding spilled, and he was just able to douse the lava before it destroyed anything or set anything on fire.

Maybe he shouldn't be doing this sleep deprived. He couldn't help it though. It had been four days since he last slept, and that was solely because the nightmares and the pain kept him awake.

With a sigh, he picked up his dropped equipment and went down to his lab. As he did so, however, a sharp pain shot through his right shoulder. He winced and rolled his shoulder, hoping to loosen the scarred muscle a bit.

Maybe the pain he was feeling in his shoulder was from the operation. After all, it had only been two months since Israphel had nearly taken his arm off while trying to kill him and Rythian.

Setting the equipment down on one of the cluttered tables, Lalna tugged away at the neck of his lab coat and shirt, peering at the scars on his shoulder. As far as he could tell just by looking and feeling, the mechanical neurotransmitters were working just fine, transferring the signals his brain was sending to his arm. He flexed his fingers just to be sure.

It wasn't the prosthetic joint either. He rolled his shoulder, and sure enough it was working.

Maybe it was just phantom pain again.

“There's no way anything I built would malfunction,” Lalna muttered to himself. “I've done this before. Just replace the missing bit with a homemade piece.”

Taking a deep breath to get his mind off of his shoulder, he looked at the blueprint again, having to put on his glasses to read what was written, since his tired eyes couldn't seem to focus. He would need more materials.

Teleporting back up, he started searching, and his mind started to wander.

He started thinking of the nightmares. There were so many of them, and they all involved Israphel. Ridge had called it post-traumatic stress disorder, similar to what he was suffering from after his first unexpected trip to the End.

Speaking of which, he hadn't seen Ridge or Rythian in a while. The last time he saw Rythian was a week ago when he had visited to make sure everything was okay – that was back when he didn't look quite so sleep deprived.

He hadn't seen Ridge since he had helped repair his castle.

Where had he gone?

Lalna made one last trip between the storage rooms and his lab. He pulled the blueprint out from inside his lab coat and went over the checklist in his head. That was when he realized he would need more lava, since he spilled his last bucket.

Tiredly, he rolled up the blueprint and put it in his inner lab coat pocket before putting on his armor and power glove. Then he teleported up and out of his castle.

He quickly flew over to his Nether portal and stepped inside, shuddering at the nauseating feeling of teleporting through the dimensions.

A moment later, he felt his feet touch down on solid ground. The air around him was hot and dry and it smelled of death and burnt flesh. He could hear Ghasts and zombie Pigmen in the distance.

With a slight groan, he stepped forward onto the sticky Netherrack. It made a disgusting squishing noise, like stepping on a bag of jelly.

Because he was so focused on the ground, he didn't see what was two feet ahead of him until -

_WHAM!_

Lalna ran head-first into a large Nether Brick wall.

Gasping, he stumbled backwards. This wasn't here before! And it wasn't a natural fortress either.

Gulping, Lalna activated the camouflage mode on his armor, and he turned invisible. Using his silent jet boots, he levitated a few meters off the ground in order to remain silent.

Slowly, he flew around until he found an enormous and dangerous looking gate. It wasn't heavily guarded at all, so he was able to fly right over top of it.

He found himself hovering above a large courtyard, and it took all of his willpower not to gasp or scream at what he saw.

Israphel stood in front of an enormous army of zombies. He was commanding them.

Lalna only caught a few words of what he was saying.

“Tonight.” “Kill.” “Capture everyone.”

The rest was drowned out by the pounding of his heart.

Even from a distance, he could see that Israphel looked solid, and not ghostly like he had been. He had a new body?

Then Lalna remembered the enormous blackout that had happened a few weeks previously. Had that been Israphel stealing power to create a new body?

Doing his best to control his breathing, Lalna backed off slowly and returned to the portal as quickly as possible. He had to warn the others!

The second he was through the portal, he threw down a few blocks of TNT and set them off, blowing out the portal's fuse. He didn't break the blocks because that would take too much time.

He knew he didn't have enough time to round everyone up and get them to safety. He would have to unfortunately result to plan B.

Frantically turning back to his castle, he reached into his pocket and drew out a small, single remote. With a feeling of immense sadness, he pressed the button.

There was a sharp humming noise before the force field surrounded his entire castle. If anything got near it, they would be fried. A moment later, a long, low alarm began to sound from the castle. It echoed all over the land, warning everyone.

His castle was sealed. Nothing could get in.

But he was still on the outside.

He looked at the remote in his hand for a moment before crushing it with his power glove. Then he turned and flew towards Honeydew Inc.

When he got there, Xephos and Honeydew were already on the top floor of the factory. They were searching for their armor when Lalna dropped through the roof.

“Lalna! What the hell is going on?” exclaimed Xephos, looking panicked already.

“I'll explain later,” said Lalna, taking off his jet boots. He tossed them to Honeydew. “Put those on and go destroy all the Nether portals you can. Hurry!”

Honeydew nodded, putting on the jet boots and pulling out some TNT. He flew off, and Lalna quickly sent out a message to everyone to destroy all Nether portals. Then he turned to Xephos.

“Where's your armor?”

“I don't know!” he exclaimed. “We can't find it anywhere.”

Lalna groaned in frustration. He saw that the sun was starting to sink lower through the sky. There was only about an hour of daylight left.

“Okay, help me seal up the door and all the floors. Leave the roof open so Honeydew can get back in.”

Xephos nodded and ran to the chests. “What should we use?”

“Use obsidian,” said Lalna. “That should buy us enough time.”

“But what the fuck are we fighting?!” exclaimed Xephos.

“ _WE'RE FIGHTING ISRAPHEL!_ ” Lalna shouted.

Xephos froze, his eyes widening in paralyzing fear. Even Honeydew, who had just got back from blowing up as many portals as he could find, was frozen in fear.

“Yeah...” said Lalna. “He's back. He escaped from the End, and now he's got an army and a fortress. And he's planning on either capturing or killing all of us tonight.”

“Well then...” said Honeydew after a minute of silence, “we better get to work...”

They spent the remaining hour sealing up the factory. All the doors and openings were covered, as were the individual floors. All the supplies were brought up to the top floor.

Lalna just hoped everybody else was preparing.

Finally, by the time the sun had set, they were ready.

Lalna stood perched on the roof, scanning the horizon. He was sure there were other portals that hadn't been destroyed, but those portals were deep underground in various isolated caves. He knew because he had built them on the several occasions he had been stuck in the Nether.

Xephos and Honeydew were cowering in the penthouse below. They all knew Israphel's army would come here first.

For the longest time, everything was quiet. However, just past midnight, a strange noise drifted through the air. A few minutes later, though, it turned into a cacophonous roar of moans and growls. A dark mass of bodies appeared on the horizon, running at full speed towards the factory.

Lalna's eyes widened. These were no ordinary zombies.

Each and every one of them had glowing red eyes.

“They're here...” whispered Lalna.

Not two seconds later, they were at the factory. They swarmed the doors, but some of them actually started to climb the walls!

Lalna's eyes widened and the blood drained from his face. As fast as he could, he activated his power glove and started shooting plasma balls at the zombies. However, when one fell, another two took its place.

“Shit...” muttered Lalna, firing as many plasma balls as possible. He was even about to use a spell that would strike some of the zombies with lightning when something suddenly attacked him from behind, slamming into him and nearly throwing him off the roof. Whipping around, he came face to face with a red eyed zombie.

With a panicked yelp, he punched it with his gloved hand, caving in its skull and killing it instantly. He ran to the other side of the building and saw that it had been completely surrounded. They were climbing up the walls on all sides.

“Fuck!” he exclaimed, running back to the hole in the roof and jumping down to join Xephos and Honeydew.

“Guys, we're surrounded,” he said quickly, sealing off the roof with obsidian.

“What do you mean we're surrounded?!” exclaimed Honeydew.

“They can _climb_!” Lalna shouted back at him.

Then the noise started.

They looked up and saw nearly a hundred zombies on the roof. They were all staring down at them through the glass.

“There's a zombie on the roof...” Lalna sang under his breath, too quiet for the others to hear.

Then the zombies started to shatter the glass.

Lalna sprang into action, sealing each new hole with obsidian. Broken glass fell on him as he ran around, some of it cutting his arms.

A moment later, Honeydew and Xephos joined him and sealed up the rest of the roof.

“I guess we're trapped here then...” gulped Xephos, visibly trembling as he clutched his diamond sword in one hand and a mining laser in the other.

Before Lalna could speak, however, there was a sharp cracking noise. They all looked up and saw cracks appearing in the obsidian.

“Oh fuck they're breaking through the obsidian!” shouted Honeydew, visibly panicking. “How is that possible?! They don't have tools or anything!”

Lalna was looking at the ground. His eyes were glowing purple, revealing that he was using Ender magic to see through the floor.

“They've broken through the obsidian downstairs and they're coming up.”

They were completely trapped.

And then Lalna got an idea.

“Guys come here,” he said hurriedly.

Xephos and Honeydew quickly came over to him, and he wrapped his arms around them. Then, using Ender magic again, he teleported them out of the factory and into their dorm.

Instantly, he collapsed on his knees, his eyes glowing bright purple and his nose bleeding from the sudden use of his Ender magic.

“W-we aren't safe here,” stammered Lalna, wiping the blood away. He shakily got to his feet and started to block up the door and windows, noticing that the zombies were still attacking the factory. It would only be a matter of time though...

Suddenly, as he was just about to cover the last window, a zombie in the back of the pack broke free and sprinted at the dorm, slamming into the window just as Lalna put obsidian over it, which kept him from getting glass in his face. However, judging by the roaring noise, that zombie had alerted its friends.

There was a loud crash as they smashed down the wooden door and started working on the obsidian.

However, the crash startled Honeydew so much that he jumped backwards, stumbled, and fell down the open shaft that led to the abandoned giant head.

“Honeydew!” shouted Xephos, looking down the shaft. It was too dark for him to see down, and he didn't get an answer.

Suddenly, Lalna shoved him backwards as a zombie's hand burst through the wall just by where his head was.

“Leave him!” exclaimed Lalna, shooting the zombie and throwing down another block of obsidian where its hand had burst through. “He's a lot safer than we are!”

Suddenly, his eyes widened. He quickly took off the rest of his power armor and dropped it down the shaft. Then he took out a wood plank and sealed up the shaft.

“What are you doing?!” exclaimed Xephos.

Lalna looked up at him, fear and sadness finally showing in his eyes.

“I'm giving him a fighting chance...”

Zombified hands burst through the obsidian blocking the doorway. They could see faces and snapping teeth and glowing red eyes beyond the crumbling lava stone.

Lalna and Xephos stood side by side, weapons ready.

The zombies burst through the obsidian and poured into the dorm like blood flowing from a wound.


	2. Aftermath of Chaos

“Ugh, my head...” muttered Honeydew, slowly sitting up. He looked around, but it was too dark for him to see anything.

Where was he?

As he looked around, his sharp dwarven vision caught a glimpse of a tiny glowing ember on a burnt out torch. Scrambling over, he picked it up and carefully nursed the flame back to life until it shed enough light for him to see.

Two seconds later, he nearly pissed himself when he saw the giant head, looming ominously in the darkness.

At least he knew where he was.

But what had happened? Why was he down here? Why couldn't he remember how he had gotten here? Was he hungover? Where was Xephos?

Swinging the torch around, he saw something on the floor. Coming closer, he saw some discarded power armor.

_Wait a second... This looks like Lalna's armor..._

He picked up the armor and looked up the ladder shaft. Why was the way blocked up?

Sluggishly putting on the armor, he shakily climbed up the ladder. His head was throbbing, and he was sore. Not to mention absolutely famished.

By the time he made it back to the top of the ladder, he was heavily panting, sweaty and dizzy. Maybe he had gotten a concussion when he fell down the ladder shaft. That would be the only explanation for why he couldn't remember what had happened.

But why hadn't Xephos or Lalna come to get him if he fell?

He lethargically broke away the planks and climbed out of the hole.

What he saw shocked him.

Half of the dorm had been torn apart. Chests were burst open, shattered glass was everywhere, the beds had been destroyed, and worst of all was the blood.

There was blood splattered everywhere. Across the walls, on the floor... there was even a trail of dried blood leading outside and away from the dorm.

His mind reeling, he looked around the wreckage. After a moment, he found Xephos' diamond sword, covered in blood.

His eyes widening, he continued looking, only to find Lalna's power glove, which had been torn into two pieces. There were bits of dried bloody flesh hanging off of the sharp edges.

Honeydew was starting to panic. He vaguely remembered something about the Nether portals, which he remembered after noticing the destroying portal outside and the obsidian lying around.

Then he remembered the factory.

Slowly turning, he looked up at the factory and gasped. Like the dorms, half of it had been torn down. Chunks of the walls were missing, and glass and obsidian were everywhere.

Honeydew gulped, and even though it was broad daylight, he shivered in fear.

What had happened?

As he started to walk towards the factory, however, he kicked something. Looking down, he saw a rolled up piece of paper. Picking it up, he saw that it was a blueprint for some kind of explosive device. Everything on the plan was written in Lalna's scrawling handwriting.

Not knowing what the explosive was or what it was for, Honeydew simply shrugged and put it away, safe in his inventory. Then he continued his trek towards the factory, wielding Xephos' sword.

The inside of the factory was completely trashed as well. He flew around using the jet boots, searching every floor for either food or signs of his friends.

He found neither. Not even the delivery truck had any food left, and all of their animals were gone.

With a groan, he set aside his task of finding food and decided to try and find his friends.

The best way to do so would be to follow the trail of blood.

As he walked, he began to remember more and more. They had sealed up the Jaffa factory, but why?

He found a green severed leg on the trail, along with some burnt rotten flesh.

Zombies. There had been zombies.

He slowly remembered the zombies climbing up the side of the factory. They had broken through the obsidian!

He was getting closer to Lalna's castle.

Lalna had been defending them. They had been trapped and he teleported them to the dorm.

_That's_ where he fell down the shaft!

But why had there been so many zombies? And... did that mean his friends had been killed...?

Then he reached the end of the blood trail.

It led right to the Nether portal outside of Lalna's sealed castle.

That was when he remembered.

“Israphel...” he whispered.

Suddenly, he heard thunder, even though it had actually been a nearby Creeper that had tripped over a rock and exploded.

Honeydew looked at the active portal. He didn't even have to step inside it to realize that it was sealed from the other side.

Then he realized something else.

The blood trail he was following was completely dry, as if it had been there for-

… No... was it possible that he had been unconscious for more than a few hours? Had it been days?!

Starting to panic, he dizzily ran over to Sipsco, only to find it destroyed and abandoned and looted of all it had.

Honeydew didn't stop running.

He ran to the Captive Creeper, but it was completely burnt down. Rythian and Zoeya's desert home was again destroyed. He thought about flying over to Owl Island, but he knew what he would find.

Somehow, he ended up back at Lalna's castle, where he collapsed just outside the force field, trembling and on the verge of tears.

He was alone.

Israphel had gotten everyone else.

Because he was so distracted, he didn't hear the footsteps creeping closer until it was too late.

He looked up when he saw the shape right next to him, and he yelped in shock.

It was a-

_Meow._

It was a cat. Nilesy's cat, Lyndon.

Honeydew breathed a sigh of relief and picked up the black cat, pulling him onto his lap.

“Hey little guy,” he said to Lyndon. “I guess it's just you and me.”

Lyndon looked up at him with wide green eyes. The poor cat was dirty and thin, having obviously not eaten in the past few days.

“You and me both,” muttered Honeydew, hearing his stomach grumbling.

“Maybe we can go find something to eat,” said Honeydew, standing with Lyndon in his arms and looking across the empty lands for animals. However, because he was dizzy from malnourishment and being slightly concussed, he stumbled backwards into the force field.

However, instead of falling against it, he simply fell right through it, as if it weren't even there.

Curious, Honeydew stood up, looking out at the world from behind the force field.

He was now inside the castle.

Looking around, he flew up to the top of the main tower, trying to remember where Lalna kept the food.

Finally, he found the chest that contained steaks, and he hungrily devoured them, also giving Lyndon some fish he found in the chest.

As he ate, he looked out at the force field and wondered why he had been able to pass through it. Wasn't that the point of force fields? To keep things out?

Just to make sure, he found a small rock sitting on the ground and flung it at the force field. It simply bounced off.

“Strange...” he muttered.

Honeydew spent the rest of the day exploring the castle with Lyndon. The little cat was helpful at sensing any traps Lalna had put in place. If it weren't for him, Lalna's Tesla coil would have gotten him. It wouldn't have killed him because he was wearing the armor, but it sure as hell would have hurt.

By the end of the day, he had nearly recovered from his concussion, but he still wasn't able to get in touch with anybody.

He did, however, find a strange computer system deep below Lalna's lab. After pushing a few random buttons, it had shown him a radar with his location. The computer hadn't been able to find anybody else, and when he pressed a few more buttons, it had shown a list of everybody's names and their locations. The computer said his location was Lalna's castle, but there was a flashing red warning light next to it that said “Highly Dangerous.” For everybody else, their locations read “unknown.”

But at least they were still alive.

Sighing in frustration, Honeydew looked over at Lyndon.

“When the hell did Lalna build this?” he asked the cat.

Lyndon stood up and jumped up on the keyboard. One of his paws hit a button, and the screen revealed the history of the people Lalna had been monitoring.

Honeydew and Xephos were on the list, near the top along with Sips, Sjin, and Rythian, but the first and most commonly searched for person was Ridge.

“He was trying to find Ridge...?” muttered Honeydew, only then realizing that he hadn't seen the mysterious man since the day Lalna and Rythian had tried to kill each other.

So where was Ridge? Had he evaded capture? Was he hiding as well?

Honeydew sighed in frustration. Why hadn't Ridge come and helped? He could have saved them!

Standing up, he picked up Lyndon and carried him back to the top tower. It was getting late anyways.

Using some wool, he made himself a bed, since Lalna didn't have one in his castle. He even made a small bed for Lyndon. However, when he looked for the cat, he found him sitting on the window sill, looking out at something.

“What are you looking at?” asked Honeydew, walking over to the window.

What he saw made him gasp.

The Nether portal had been reopened, and there were zombies pouring out of it and roaming across the landscape.

However, some of the zombies looked different...

While most of them looked like the typical zombie – red eyes, green decomposing skin, bald, hunched over – there were others that had hair and stood upright like people. Even from a distance, Honeydew could see that these creatures had darker skin, and they were taller than the other zombies. There seemed to be two types – one of them was a bit shorter than the other, and it was wearing what looked like a red shirt and red pants. The other one was taller and looked like it was wearing a red cloak.

There were at least a hundred of these creatures.

Honeydew watched in horror as they began searching. A few normal zombies wandered too close to the force field, and a strange jet of red lightning shot from the force field and vaporized the zombies.

The different creatures seemed to be much more intelligent than the zombies, as they stayed away from the castle entirely. However, the creatures in red seemed to be feral, especially the smaller ones. They attacked any animal they saw. Honeydew even had to cover Lyndon's eyes when one of the shorter ones mauled a pig and ripped its throat out, splattering blood across the grass. The blood reflected the moonlight.

The darker it got, the more zombies and creatures came out of the portal.

They were looking for him.

Trembling, Honeydew picked up Lyndon and backed away from the window.

“C'mon, Lyndon,” he whispered, not daring to speak louder, even though he was protected by the force field and Lalna's armor.

He put Lyndon in his little bed before climbing into his own bed. He curled up under the blankets, trembling in fear.

He just hoped his friends were okay.

**XXX**

“Your little friend is very good at hiding...”

Another hot flash of pain shot across his back. He screamed, pulling against the chains around his raw and bleeding wrists.

“You know what I want.”

A hot blade stuck him between the ribs, drawing more blood but cauterizing the wound at the same time so he wouldn't – couldn't – bleed out.

“Just tell me where he is.”

Another kick to his already broken ribs.

“And I can make all of this pain stop.”

Another stab to his shoulder. The blade had cooled down a bit, so the wound bled.

“Maybe I'll even stop torturing your friends.”

Anger surged through him, and his glowing blue eyes widened. He lunged forward, but was stopped by the chains.

“Oh, that got your attention, did it? You'll be happy to know that your friends are suffering just as much as you are.”

“You'll never find him,” growled Xephos, his voice raw from screaming. Blood dripped out of his mouth as he spoke.

Israphel smiled evilly. “No, maybe not. But he'll come to us. He's watching now.”

He held up what looked like an Eye of Ender on a thin chain.

Xephos' eyes widened in fear.

“Honeydew! Don't listen to him!” he suddenly shouted. “He's lying! He's gonna-”

Suddenly, Israphel stepped forward and hit him across the face so hard it knocked him unconscious. Then he calmly walked out of the cell, closing the door behind him and leaving Xephos in a bloody heap on the floor.


	3. Beneath Bedrock

Honeydew gasped and sat bolt upright so suddenly that he scared Lyndon awake.

Had that been a dream? Was Xephos really being tortured? What was that Ender Eye he had?

And if it wasn't a dream – if he really had somehow been watching Xephos being tortured – what was he going to do about it?

He quickly stood up and began pacing. What had happened?!

Suddenly, he remembered something.

He remembered an old trick Rythian had taught him about Eyes of Ender. That not only could they lead someone to a stronghold or the End, they could also be used to communicate through dimensions, or even worlds.

That was how he had been able to contact Rythian when they had been stuck in the glitchy world. He had boiled water in a cauldron and thrown an Eye of Ender into it. That had let him communicate with Rythian, and what he had been able to tell them ended up saving Lalna's life.

Honeydew's eyes widened. He remembered that Rythian wore a necklace with an Eye of Ender on it.

That necklace belonged to Rythian, and Israphel had been using it to send Honeydew a vision through his dreams.

Not only was that disturbing, but it also made him realize how lucky he was that he didn't get captured. Because as far as he knew, Rythian was one of the best fighters, and if he had been captured as well...

Honeydew shuddered. He needed to find some way to help!

But then he thought about what Xephos had said.

Xephos told him to stay away. To save himself.

But the thought of leaving his friends to die at the hands of Israphel was too much for him to handle.

He had to do something. He had to act.

“C'mon, Lyndon!” exclaimed Honeydew, looking over at the cat. “We're going to save our friends.”

**XXX**

Honeydew searched high and low before he found a power glove that fit him. Lalna had several of them, but most were broken, and the ones that weren't broken were designed for normal sized people.

As he was looking for a glove, however, he started to notice how many weapons and dangerous tools and chemicals Lalna had lying around the castle. In his lab, he even found blueprints for several weapons of mass destruction. Not to mention the blueprint for the explosive that was still tucked away in his inventory.

Now he finally realized why Lalna's castle was sealed.

If Israphel were to get his hands on any of this equipment, it would surely spell doom for the rest of the world.

But then another thought struck Honeydew. Israphel already had Lalna.

Almost as if he had been reading his mind, Honeydew suddenly got another vision of what was happening with his friends.

He saw Lalna strapped to a chair. The scientist was convulsing. He was being electrocuted.

Suddenly, it stopped and he fell as far forward as he bonds would allow. Now that he was still, Honeydew could see that he was covered in cuts and burns and dried blood. His right hand looked like it had been broken and healed several times now.

“Let me repeat myself,” said Israphel, who was standing in front of Lalna, holding a white hot sword. “If you work for me, I'll end your torture.”

“Let _me_ repeat myself,” snarled Lalna, spitting out blood. “Bite me.”

Israphel smirked. “Come now, let's make an agreement. We've had this conversation before. You build the bomb, or I'll kill another one of your friends and torture you until the day you die. And this time I'll make sure you're dead.”

Lalna responded by spitting blood at him.

“Very well,” said Israphel, wiping the blood off of his face. “Let me know if you change your mind.”

He went around to the side of the chair and ramped the voltage up to just below a lethal level. Then he pulled the lever.

Honeydew wanted to look away or at least close his eyes, but he was forced to watch as Lalna screamed and convulsed and thrashed, pulling at his bonds so hard that they cut into his wrists and sent rivulets of blood cascading down his arms. His appearance flickered, his hair turning black and his skin darkening before returning to normal. His amulet appeared around his neck as the electricity drained away the spell keeping it hidden.

“There we go,” said Israphel, stopping the electricity. He came around in front of Lalna, who was slumped over with blood dripping out of his mouth and nose.

He took the amulet with one hand, and with the other, he positioned the burning sword just above Lalna's bare chest.

“Oh,” he said, as if as an afterthought, “I made sure Honeydew is watching this.”

Lalna's eyes widened as he noticed the Eye around Israphel's neck.

Then Israphel yanked the amulet from around Lalna's neck, snapping the chain that had been holding it in place.

Lalna made a small choking noise, his eyes instantly turning purple. A few streaks of his hair started to turn black.

Israphel nodded, looking at the amulet. Then, without so much as blinking, he drove the sword right through Lalna's chest.

**XXX**

Honeydew screamed as the vision suddenly ended.

Had Israphel just killed Lalna?!

Collapsing to his knees, Honeydew held his head in his hands and rocked back and forth.

First he had to watch Xephos be tortured, now he had watched Lalna be tortured and possibly killed! It was too much. He needed help!

“Ridge, where are you...?” he whimpered, closing his eyes and lifting his face skyward. “I need your help...”

**XXX**

Ridge heard Honeydew loud and clear.

There was so much he wanted to say at that moment. He wanted to do something to help. He wanted to stop Israphel. He wanted to save the others from the hell they were trapped in.

But he was so tired.

He couldn't move.

He felt sick. He felt dizzy.

He was in a coma. He was dying. And no matter what he did, there was nothing he could have done to save everybody.

Especially not on his death bed.

**XXX**

Honeydew continued to look for supplies. He didn't really have a plan, though. He just needed something to keep his mind occupied while he came up with something.

After a bit more searching, he found an analyzer, similar to the ones they had used for the bees. Maybe this could tell him what the hell was up with those zombies.

Standing outside the castle walls, just behind the safety of the force field, he spotted a bit of rotten flesh from a zombie that had been vaporized.

Holding out the analyzer, he scanned the flesh and went back inside, plugging the analyzer into the computer.

Words scrolled across the screen, but he only needed a few of them.

The words “Bedrock Zombie” appeared in bold text at the top of the screen.

Honeydew's eyes widened. He had heard stories about these creatures.

They were a rare breed of zombies, spawned in cocoons attached to the underside of the bedrock above the Void. They were created from large clusters of flux, and they were infused with flux powers. That was what gave them the strength to climb walls and break through obsidian in seconds.

Honeydew sat back and looked out the window. Night was falling again, and more of the Bedrock zombies began to pour out of the portal, along with the creatures in red, whatever they were.

That was when he realized something.

At night, the portal opened. He would be able to go through. Not only that, but most of the zombies and creatures would be out here looking for him. There would be fewer guards to go through once he was inside.

He finally had a plan, and tomorrow would be the day he would set it in motion.

**XXX**

That night when he was dreaming, he had another visitor.

Sitting up, he found himself in an empty dark room. However, at one far end of the room, there was a glowing gold light.

Slowly standing, he walked towards the light. He couldn't see what it was until he was right in front of it.

Suddenly, the ribbons of light spread out and seemed to open up, revealing what was suspended inside.

It was Ridge.

But... something was wrong. His eyes were closed, as if he were sleeping. His head was lolling to the side a bit, and he looked pale and thin and ill. There was a thin layer of sweat across his forehead, and he was dressed in a simple light green shirt and pants. His boots and coat were missing.

“Ridge...” whispered Honeydew, slowly reaching out towards him, but pulling his hand back at the last second as the golden light crackled ominously.

Suddenly, Ridge spoke. He didn't move, but Honeydew heard the voice in his head clear as day.

“Save them,” said the voice.

Honeydew jumped a bit at the sudden voice.

“I... I don't know how...” he said, his throat feeling dry.

“Yes you do,” insisted Ridge's voice. “Use what you know to your advantage.”

“But I don't _know_ anything!” exclaimed Honeydew. “Xephos and Lalna are the smart ones... and for all I know, they're both dead...”

“Then I think it's time you realized that those visions Israphel has been sending you are true, but he sent them days after that had actually happened,” said Ridge. “If any of your friends had died, you would have felt it. You would have known. They're still alive.”

Honeydew's eyes widened. He wasn't sure if he should feel relieved that his friends were alive or feel guilty for not realizing it sooner.

“I would suggest you hurry your plan along,” said Ridge, his form starting to flicker. What looked like a ring of golden light appeared around his neck, and more beams of light started to flow from it and into the surrounding light.

“What's going on?” asked Honeydew nervously.

“I can't keep this up much longer,” said Ridge, his voice sounding tired and his appearance suddenly looking a bit more worn. “It's up to you now.”

“Wait!” exclaimed Honeydew as Ridge and the lights began to disappear.

“You'll know what to do,” echoed the voice.

Then it all disappeared.


	4. What Was Lost

Honeydew jumped awake so suddenly that he fell out of bed and landed right on top of Lyndon. The cat let him know how he felt about that through the means of hissing and scratching.

“Sorry Lyndon!” exclaimed Honeydew, jumping up and running to the supplies chest. He began to gather food, he figured out how to recharge his armor, and he made a plan.

By the time night fell, he was standing on top of the largest tower, fully armored with a power glove and Xephos' sword. Lyndon sat in his arms nervously.

They both stood watching as the bedrock zombies and creatures in red surged out of the portal and spread across the land in search. Finally, when the flow stopped, Honeydew activated the camouflage on the armor – something that had taken him practically all day to figure out – and quietly flew towards the portal.

None of the zombies below noticed him, but one of the smaller creatures in red froze when he was above it. Slowly, the creature looked up, and if Honeydew hadn't been wearing the armor that made him completely invisible, he would have been seen.

The creature stared up, right at him, and in the pale moonlight, Honeydew could see that it had glowing purple eyes.

It was staring right at him as if it could see him.

Honeydew was frozen in fear. Even Lyndon was frozen.

The creature in red continued to stare at them.

Slowly, Honeydew silently flew to the side a bit. The creature followed him with its eyes.

It could see him.

Glancing up, Honeydew noticed that one of the taller creatures in red – one with a red cloak – had noticed it's smaller companion staring and was beginning to walk over.

And it was right at that moment that Ridge, who had been watching the whole thing in his comatose state, decided to use the last shred of his precious energy to save Honeydew.

He spawned in a pig right behind the creature.

Almost instantly, both creatures in red turned and savagely attacked the poor animal, and Honeydew flew towards the portal. He landed in front of it, took one last look around, and stepped inside.

As soon as he stepped through into the Nether, little arcs of electricity jumped across his armor and power glove, the camouflage stopped, and they were visible. The power armor itself became useless and began to fall apart, along with the glove.

Right at that second, Honeydew heard footsteps coming towards him.

Panicking, he whipped out a pickaxe and dug down, hiding below ground and blocking up the hole.

He was plunged into darkness. The only light came from the blue power crystal on the back of the useless glove.

After a moment, Honeydew remembered Ridge's words.

_“Use what you know to your advantage.”_

Honeydew had to get into the fort and rescue his friends.

And he knew how to dig.

Smiling a bit, he set Lyndon down and began to dig towards the fort.

He only made it five blocks before he hit a small tunnel. Slowly, with a sword equipped, he made his way down the tunnel.

It ended at a Nether brick wall with a single barred window.

Honeydew crouched behind the wall and, after listening and hearing nothing, he slowly reached up and pulled himself up so he could look inside.

Just on the opposite side of the bars, facing away from him, was one of the taller creatures in red.

Honeydew was so shocked he almost fell over. But he held his ground and remained quiet.

The creature seemed to be guarding something, but looking past it, Honeydew couldn't see anything. Just a long narrow hallway with an iron door at the end.

With a gulp, Honeydew lifted his sword, reached through the bars, and stabbed the creature through the back of its neck.

The creature made a sharp gasping sound before falling forward, dead. 

Honeydew jumped down and, using his pickaxe, he broke through the wall and entered the fort.

As it turned out, the long narrow hallway was actually a collection of prison cells.

And inside them were his friends.

With a gasp, Honeydew ran to the closest cell, which held a sleeping Sips and Sjin.

“Guys!” he exclaimed in a frantic whisper.

For a second, they didn't move, but then Sips woke up. He looked over and saw Honeydew.

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed, sitting up happily and letting Sjin, who had been sleeping against his shoulder, fall to the floor to be woken by the impact.

“You have no idea how glad we are to see you!” said Sips, moving over to the locked door of the cell.

“Shh!” whispered Honeydew frantically. “Do you want to let the whole place know I'm here?!”

Then the voices from the other cells started to float down the hallway.

“Guys, stay quiet for a minute!” exclaimed Honeydew, running down the hallway so he could see everybody and everyone could see him. “I'm gonna get you out of here!”

Running back to Sips and Sjin's cell, Honeydew busted open the lock with a painfully loud clank. The door swung open and Sips and Sjin were out. They both immediately started to pick the locks on the other cells, quietly letting the others out while Honeydew went around to make sure everybody was present and alive.

The first cell he came to was holding Nilesy and Lomadia.

Lomadia smiled widely when she saw the dwarf. She looked to be okay, other than a few cuts and bruises. Nilesy, on the other hand, looked like he was ready to die. He was tiredly slumped against Lomadia's shoulder, pale and trembling and clutching his side, where a deep cut bled.

“What happened?” asked Honeydew, stepping to the side so Sips could pick the lock.

“After the zombies got us and dragged us back here, he tripped and knocked over a few of them, so one of them stabbed him,” said Lomadia sadly.

“It's just a flesh wound...” muttered Nilesy feverishly.

The door popped open, and Honeydew went inside and helped Lomadia get Nilesy to his feet.

Suddenly, Lyndon appeared, and Nilesy's face lit up.

“Lyndon!” he exclaimed, reaching out towards his cat. “You're okay!”

The cat sprang towards him, and Lomadia picked him up and handed him to Nilesy, who suddenly gained the strength to stand on his own. Lyndon started purring.

Honeydew smiled and went out again to help. However, when he turned Lomadia grabbed his shoulder.

“Honeydew,” she said, her voice cracking. “They took Xephos and Lalna and Rythian. I haven't seen them since we got here...”

Honeydew's eyes widened and he looked around. Just like she said, he couldn't spot any of them.

“Don't worry...” he said after a minute. “I'll find them...”

A few minutes later, everybody was standing in a small semi circle in the hallway.

Everybody was in a bit of a state. Nobody was without cuts and bruises, and several of them were a bit more severely injured. Toby's shoulder was dislocated, Strippin was supporting Benji, whose leg was broken, and Nilesy still looked ready to drop.

“Okay guys,” said Honeydew, “here's the plan. This tunnel-” he gestured to the hole in the wall with the tunnel beyond, “-leads back to the portal. Everybody get out of here, and I'll go find the others.”

Nobody moved.

“Do you really expect to find them all on your own?” asked Lomadia.

“Yeah,” said Sjin, “at least let some of us come with you. We can help.”

Honeydew groaned. The last thing he wanted was any of his friends to get hurt on his account. But he figured there was no way they would budge.

“Okay,” he said, “who all is the quietest and least injured?”

“Me!” exclaimed Sips, Sjin, and Zoeya, stepping forward at the same time.

Lomadia raised an eyebrow and looked at Honeydew. “What was that about it being a _stealth_ mission?”

“Okay,” said Honeydew, ignoring her, “you three come with me, everybody else, hide in the tunnel.”

A few minutes later, Honeydew, Sips, Sjin, and Zoeya stood alone in front of the empty prison cells. Under any normal circumstances, they would have been loud enough to wake a small city, but today they were dead silent.

They all knew what was at stake here.

With Honeydew in the lead, they crept out and through the long dark passages. They stayed on the ground until they heard footsteps approaching. It was at that point that they climbed up into the vents and crawled along.

Several times they stopped and waited for the occasional creature in red to pass by below. Honeydew was too afraid to move or even ask the others what those creatures were. He was still shaken from when one of the creatures had seen him through his invisibility.

Finally, after crawling through the vents for a while, they came to a secluded room filled with chests.

After a moment, they dropped down into the room and found the chests to be loaded with weapons like swords, bows, and several guns.

Honeydew and Sjin stayed on the ground while Sips and Zoeya returned to the vents. However, when they were passing weapons up, the door behind them suddenly swung open.

Honeydew and Sjin whipped around and came face to face with two of the smaller creatures in red.

Honeydew froze.

The creatures were actually mutated clones of Lalna.

Almost instantly, the clones attacked them. Honeydew sliced open the one that charged at him and left it to bleed on the ground. The other one, however, managed to strike Sjin across the head, knocking him to the floor and slicing his forehead open. It raised its clawed hand and was about to slit his throat when it suddenly stopped.

Its face went blank, its eyes glazed over, and after a second, it fell over dead, blood dripping out of its mouth and nose.

Honeydew quickly closed the door and pulled Sjin to his feet.

“What the fuck was that?!” exclaimed Honeydew, gaping down at the clones. “What's going on?! Why are they all mutated? Why did it just die?!”

“Calm down!” exclaimed Sips as he and Zoeya climbed back down. Sips took Sjin and made him sit down, pressing a gloved hand to his bleeding forehead. “What's going on is that Israphel is cloning Goggle-boy.”

“And I think you can guess why the clones are all mutated,” said Sjin, leaning forward and poking one of the dead clones with his sword.

“What do you mean?” asked Zoeya. “I just thought it was a side effect of the cloning process.”

Sips, Sjin, and Honeydew all exchanged a few nervous looks.

“It's a long story...” muttered Honeydew, looking down at the Ender clone of his friend. “But why did this one just die?”

“I dunno,” said Sips, “but Lalna's clones drop dead a lot more often than Rythian's clones.”

If Honeydew had been drinking anything, he would have spit it out.

“Wait, what?!” he exclaimed. “Rythian is being cloned too?!”

Suddenly, it all made sense. The creatures in red had been clones! The smaller ones with the red lab coats had been Lalna's clones, and the tall ones with the red cloaks had been Rythian's clones! Both of them were at least partially mutated into their Ender selves, which explained the black hair and gray skin and purple eyes. That also explained why one of Lalna's clones had been able to see him even when he was invisible.

Suddenly, they heard the distant sound of a scream.

Honeydew's mind instantly jumped back to the dreams Israphel had sent him. He remembered Xephos and Lalna being tortured.

“We should head towards the screams,” whispered Honeydew. “It might lead us somewhere.”

A minute later, they were back crawling in the vents. A scream would sound every so often, leading them closer.

A few minutes later, they found the torture chamber.

Honeydew silently dropped down inside and hid behind what looked like a containment tube. There were tubes lined up against the walls, and only one looked like it was occupied.

Behind him, Sips, Sjin, and Zoeya dropped down and hid.

Then Zoeya gasped and pointed to the far end of the room.

Chained up, dark gray skinned, shirtless and covered in blood, was Rythian.

Someone was standing over him, holding a knife.

“Guys, stay here for a minute while I kill this mothertrucker,” whispered Zoeya, looking absolutely pissed. Then, pulling out her sword, she slowly crept closer, hiding behind the containment tubes. She made sure to stay on the opposite side of the one that was occupied, especially because the occupant looked large and dangerous, and the inside of the tube was splattered with blood.

As she got closer, she could make out who it was holding the knife.

It was Reverend John.

“Now,” said John, dipping the blade he was holding into a bucket of water, “if I can't persuade you to stop talking with that Beast, then I guess I'll just have to stop you from talking at all.”

Rythian, who was on his knees with his arms chained behind him, stared at him with blank purple eyes, his face devoid of all emotions. He simply looked... tired.

As soon as John raised his blade, Zoeya sprang from the shadows and pounced on him. He didn't even have time to blink before her sword was lodged down the length of his spine. She pulled the sword out and let the body fall to the ground. Then she turned to Rythian.

For a second, he looked shocked, but a second later, his scarred and split mouth widened into a smile, and his glowing eyes flooded with relief.

Dropping her sword, she rushed forward and hugged him. 

“I'm so glad you're okay...” she whispered, wrapping her arms around his neck.

Rythian laughed breathlessly, doing his best to ignore the pain from the many wounds he had sustained from the torture that were stressed by Zoeya's hug.

Zoeya sat back, and with her mechanical hand, she crushed the lock holding his chains, and he fell forward into her arms, too weak to sit up on his own.

As this occurred, Honeydew, Sjin, and Sips all emerged from the shadows. Honeydew looked down at the body of Reverend John and shivered. How many times would they have to kill this man?

Looking around, Honeydew immediately found a large container of salt, which he assumed John had poured over fresh wounds after a torture session. Taking it, he salted and then burned John's body, hopefully making it so that he wasn't able to return.

After this, Sips went to go help Zoeya get Rythian to his feet, and Honeydew and Sjin would have helped too, but Honeydew noticed something.

“Sjin, come here...” he whispered, looking at the foggy containment tube that held a large figure. He too noticed that the inside walls were dripping with blood.

Honeydew walked right up to the tube and put his face against it. It was only then that he recognized the creature trapped within.

It was Lalna, and he was fully transformed into an Enderbeast.

Lalna was sitting slumped against the wall of the containment tube, his legs pulled up to his chest due to the lack of room in the tube that was too small for his mutated size. He turned and looked at Honeydew with glowing purple eyes. Slowly, his eyes widened, but just when Honeydew was about to say something, Lalna let out a feral scream and lunged at the glass, slamming his clawed fists into the clear glass tube. A large amount of blood splattered from his right hand as he did so.

Honeydew and Sjin jumped back, shocked.

“Be careful,” warned Rythian, limping over with the help of Sips and Zoeya. Honeydew noticed that he had found his old cloak and was wearing it to cover his mouth.

“What happened to him?” exclaimed Honeydew, gesturing to Lalna, who was still snarling and scratching at the glass with bleeding claws.

“Him?” asked Zoeya, unaware that the Enderbeast in front of her was Lalna.

“Like I said before, it's a long story,” said Honeydew. “But this is Lalna.”

Zoeya's eyes widened, and she looked at Rythian, who nodded in confirmation.

“I imagine it _is_ a long story...” mumbled Zoeya, “and this is the outcome...”

Sips and Sjin nodded.

“How did this happen?” asked Honeydew, turning to Rythian.

The Mage gulped. “Israphel stole his amulet, and a few days later, he turned into this and hasn't turned back since...”

“Maybe if we get his amulet back it'll get him back to normal,” suggested Sjin. “I mean, we can't just leave him like this...”

“I can get it,” said Rythian suddenly. “I know where he's keeping it.”

“No!” exclaimed Zoeya. “You aren't strong enough! Heck, I just rescued you five minutes ago!”

“Yeah, I know,” said Rythian, slowly standing on his own. “But out of all of us, I'm the quietest, I'm the only one in tune with Ender magic, and I know where his treasure room is. Also, half of the clones out there are copies of me, and Lalna taught me how to deactivate them.”

“Deactivate? Is that what happened to the clone that almost killed you?” Honeydew asked Sjin.

Sjin nodded. “I assume so.”

Zoeya shook her head. “Rythian, look. I think one of us should come with you.”

Rythian shook his head a bit. “I'll be faster alone.” Then he turned and limped closer to the wall before teleporting up into the vents.


	5. At What Cost

Rythian was glad the others couldn't see him after he teleported, because he nearly collapsed. His eyes glowed even brighter, and his nose started to bleed.

After a moment, he regained enough strength to move forward.

Silent as a shadow, he moved through the vents. The only reason he knew where Israphel was keeping the amulet was because he could sense the powerful Ender magic radiating from it. However, it was difficult to tell the difference between the Ender magic of the amulet and the strange magic in the electricity that was powering the entire place.

After a few more minutes, though, he found it.

Peering through the vents, he looked down into the treasure room. He could see Lalna's amulet sitting on the pedestal in the very center of the room. However, there were two clones of himself patrolling the room.

Taking a deep breath, he teleported down and his behind several large boxes. Then, focusing on the clones nearest to him, he tried to imagine it dying.

It was difficult. In the many days he had been imprisoned here, he had only managed to deactivate seven of his clones, while Lalna dropped any of his clones that came into the room. Even after he was fully mutated and his mind had been lost to the Void, he still killed any clone that came near.

He and Lalna had been held in adjacent containment tubes, and every night, Lalna had whispered instructions on how to kill them. But it had always proved too difficult for Rythian to watch himself die.

But he didn't have a choice this time.

He glared at the clone with as much intensity as he could conjure. He imagined it bleeding, dying.

The clone suddenly got a nosebleed.

Encouraged by this, Rythian focused harder.

The other clone noticed its companion bleeding.

With one final mental shove, Rythian's clone dropped, blood gushing out of its nose, mouth, and ears.

Two seconds later, the second clone was on him.

Rythian jumped aside, but he was slowed by his injuries. The clone grabbed him and bit into his left shoulder, it's sharp teeth ripping into his flesh.

Rythian screamed and swung his fist back at the clone. It connected solidly and broke the clone's nose.

Pulling away, Rythian quickly teleported across the room. He was gasping for breath, and his shoulder was bleeding profusely, sending rivulets of blood running down his arm.

He could hear the clone coming closer, so he climbed up on some of the boxes to get a better vantage point.

The clone was right in front of him, facing away, sniffing the air. Trying to follow the scent of his blood.

Knowing he may only have this one chance, Rythian jumped down and grabbed the clone from behind. Then, without hesitation, he snapped its neck.

The clone dropped.

Rythian shuddered and stepped away. Doing his best not to look at the clones, he quickly went to the center of the room and took the amulet in his hand.

Almost instantly, his energy returned, his skin changed back to its normal color, and his shoulder started to heal.

He quickly teleported back into the vents and returned to the torture chamber in minutes.

As soon as he teleported back down into the torture room, Zoeya was in front of him.

“Rythian! What happened to your arm? Are you okay?”

“I'm fine!” exclaimed Rythian, looking over and noticing that his shoulder was now fully healed. “I got the amulet.”

“Bring it over here!” exclaimed Honeydew, who was still standing by Lalna's containment tube, which they could barely see inside of because of all the blood Lalna had splattered on the walls.

Rythian came over, and behind the blood, he could see Lalna's glowing purple eyes staring at his hand.

He pressed the amulet against the glass.

Lalna stopped growling. Slowly, they saw him shrink back down to his normal size.

“Open it!” exclaimed Honeydew frantically.

Rythian reached over and pressed the button on the side that released the lock on the tube. There was a sharp hiss as it opened, and Lalna spilled out, gasping for breath.

He was on his knees, supporting himself with his left hand and clutching his bleeding right hand to his chest. The shredded remains of his lab coat hung off his shoulders, and his pants were torn and frayed at the bottom. His goggles hung around his neck, one of the lenses cracked open. His hair was still black, his skin was still dark gray, and his eyes were glowing bright purple. He was emaciated and trembling violently, and blood was dripping out of his mouth.

Almost instantly, Honeydew was on his knees next to the terrified and wounded scientist. He pulled him into a hug, glad to see him alive and breathing. However, he did notice the large wound on Lalna's bare chest, and he was reminded of the vision.

“Lalna? Are you okay?” asked Honeydew.

Slowly, the scientist looked at him and nodded once. He tried to speak, but the only sounds that came out of his mouth were Enderman noises. Upon realizing this, however, Lalna began to frantically try and speak.

“Here,” said Rythian, kneeling down in front of Lalna. “Maybe this will help.” He held out the amulet and put it around Lalna's neck.

Almost instantly, a few blond hairs appeared and his skin started to lighten back to normal. Blood stopped dripping from his hand.

He coughed a few times before attempting to speak again.

“I... I f-found h-him...” Lalna stammered out.

Honeydew's eyes widened. “What do you mean? Who did you find?”

Lalna attempted to speak, but again the words came out in an Ender language. He shook his head a bit and cleared his throat, trying to rid himself of the Enderbeast mentality that had been dominating his mind for days now.

His hand on his throat, he forced out the name.

“Ridge...” he said, his voice hoarse and shaky. “H-he's here... The power... It's him...” He coughed again, spitting out blood due to the fact that his throat was bleeding from forcing his vocal cords to make human sounds again.

Suddenly, Rythian gasped.

“Wait, so Ridge is the power source behind this place?”

Lalna nodded, still clutching his throat. He said something to Rythian in the Ender language, which Rythian seemed to understand.

“That explains why the energy here is laced with magic.”

Again, Lalna nodded and spoke.

“What are you talking about?!” exclaimed Honeydew.

“Correct me if I'm wrong,” said Rythian, glancing at Lalna, “but Lalna thinks Israphel kidnapped Ridge and is stealing his energy to use as a power source.”

Lalna nodded, looking worried.

“F-find h-him...” stammered Lalna. “He c-can...” The rest of what he said slipped back into the Ender language.

“He said,” translated Rythian, “he can help you find Xephos...”

Honeydew's eyes widened, but before he could say anything, Zoeya stepped forward.

“Guys, I'll stay here with these two-” she gestured to Lalna and Rythian, “-and you guys go find Ridge and Xephos.”

Honeydew nodded, and he stood up. However, right at that minute, he remembered something.

“Oh, Lalna, I found this back at the factory...” He reached into his inventory and pulled out the blueprint he had found.

Lalna's eyes widened, and with surprising energy, he reached up and snatched the blueprint. His wide eyes were fixed on the design, and as he read over it, more of his hair turned blond and his skin lightened even further.

“This...” he muttered, his voice sounding more human now as the Enderbeast still lingering inside his mind was chased back by the science, “this is it... This c-can get rid of a-all the clones...”

“What is it?” asked Sjin, glancing over Lalna's shoulder.

“It's a-” he stopped to check that his voice was still working, “-a selective e-explosive. It can k-kill only what I tell it to. Everything else is l-left unharmed.”

“Do you have all the stuff you need to build it?” asked Zoeya, looking at the complicated design.

Lalna looked around and nodded. “I'll need y-your help,” he said, looking at Zoeya. Then he looked over at Rythian. “Yours too...”

Rythian looked shocked. “What do you need my help for? I don't know anything about science.”

“Y-yeah, but h-half of the clones a-are yours, so... I'll j-just explain while we're b-building it.”

Lalna turned to Honeydew, Sips, and Sjin. “Guys, f-find Ridge. He can help.”

They nodded, and the three of them left through the vents again, leaving Lalna, Rythian, and Zoeya to build the bomb that would kill the clones and zombies and let them escape.

They headed towards what seemed like the center, going against the constant flow of air.

As they got closer, it got hotter and hotter, and an electric humming noise filled the air.

Finally, they saw what looked like gold light ahead. Honeydew remembered the dream Ridge had sent him.

“This is it,” he whispered. Slowly, he crawled towards the vent and looked through. In the large room below, he could hardly see anything because the golden glow was so bright.

After a minute of watching, Honeydew didn't see any movement below. He took the risk and opened the vent, climbing down, closely followed by Sips and Sjin.

Slowly, Honeydew crept closer to the blindingly hot light. Suddenly, when he was about ten feet away, the light shifted and seemed to open, revealing what – who – was trapped inside.

Ridge was trapped in stasis, floating a foot off the base of the light. His eyes were closed, his face was pale and thin, he was wearing nothing but a buttoned up green shirt and pants. A halo of blood floated around his head, seeming to have originated from a large wound on the back of his head that Honeydew could just see.

Around his neck was a collar. Several steady streams of gold light flowed weakly from the collar and into the surrounding light.

“Holy shit...” muttered Honeydew. Sips and Sjin stood behind him, shocked into silence.

Snapping into action, Honeydew looked around. There had to be a shutdown button somewhere.

“Guys, help me shut the power off!” exclaimed Honeydew, looking around in a somewhat panicky way. He had no idea how much longer Ridge could last in there.

“What do you think this does?” asked Sjin, who had found a large lever on the wall.

Honeydew ran over to the lever. It wasn't labeled, but he could follow the cable attached to it with his eyes. It led right back to the field of light Ridge was trapped in.

“I hope this works...” muttered Honeydew before pulling the lever.

Almost instantly, the light disappeared, and the room was plunged into darkness. There was a loud noise as all the electricity drained from the entire fortress. A moment later, the red tinged emergency lights came on, letting them see enough to spot the motionless figure on the ground in front of where the light used to be.

Honeydew ran forward and knelt down by Ridge. He was barely conscious, and blood was steadily dripping out of the wound on his head, but he was breathing. He was alive.

With Sips and Sjin's help, Honeydew lifted Ridge into a sitting position. Sjin moved so that he was behind him and pulled out a cloth, pressing it to the wound on his head to hopefully stop the bleeding.

Honeydew quickly pulled the collar off, and Ridge immediately gasped for breath, instantly looking slightly less dead. Slowly, Ridge blinked his eyes open. He looked exhausted and sick, barely able to keep his head up. The collar had left a raw, bright red ring around his throat.

“W-we should hide...” was the first thing he gasped out. “H-he knows you're h-here...”

Honeydew nodded, and he and Sips pulled Ridge to his feet. The poor guy wasn't even able to stand on his own, so Sips ended up having to drag him along.

Suddenly, they heard footsteps coming closer.

“It's them...” Ridge choked out.

“Clones?” asked Sjin.

Ridge nodded.

Knowing they didn't have time to get into the vents, they climbed up some of the equipment and hid in the rafters.

As soon as they were all up and hidden, the door burst open and several armed clones ran in. Half of them were Lalna's clones, and the other half were Rythian's. Two of Lalna's clones dropped at the same time, which must have been more common than Honeydew thought, because none of the other clones flinched.

Honeydew felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over and saw Ridge gesturing for them to move towards an opening in the wall by the rafters that would lead out. They moved through it as quietly as possible and crawled along through several rooms. Finally, they came to a stop in what looked like a large indoor theater. There was a stage at one end, and the rest of the enormous space was empty.

Except for the clones.

There were hundreds of them swarming around, all running through different doors. A few of them dropped dead every few minutes.

Ridge pointed across the room, and in the dim red light, Honeydew could just barely see an iron door hidden behind the platform.

“That's where he's keeping Xephos,” said Ridge, his voice already sounding stronger as his energy recharged.

“Okay, that's great, but how do you plan on getting over there?” asked Sips, gesturing to the mass of mutated clones below.

Ridge shook his head a bit, causing more blood to drip down his face. “Not sure yet...”

“Look,” said Honeydew, pointing to where the rafter curved along the wall. “If we go over there, we'll be closer. I guess we're gonna have to make a run for it.”

They quietly made their way over to where the rafter beam ended. It put them against the wall, and twenty feet closer to the door. There were even crates against the wall below them that they could climb down without hurting themselves.

“So your plan is just to make a run for it?” Ridge whispered to Honeydew.

“Unless you see a vent or something nearby, I think that's our only option,” replied Honeydew nervously. “Ready?” He turned to look at Sips and Sjin, but they were gone.

Gasping, he looked down. The two had climbed down and now stood on the ground floor.

Sjin whistled sharply, and Sips started shouting. “Hey! Over here, you big dumb babbies!”

Then they turned and sprinted away, yelling “Eat shit!” as the entire horde of clones chased after them, clearing the room.

“Go!” exclaimed Ridge.

Honeydew quickly climbed down, dragging Ridge along with him, as he was still too weak to stand.

They made it to the iron door, and Honeydew saw that it was cracked open, as if someone had forgotten to shut it. As if someone had run inside in a hurry.

With a gulp, he and Ridge went through the door.

They found themselves in a long dark hallway, lit by redstone torches. They went down the hallway and eventually came to another iron door, also ajar. Honeydew kicked it down, and they came into a dark room with a cell made of iron bars in the center. The walls were lined with tables, which held a plethora of torture equipment. The whole room smelled like blood and sweat.

And it was completely empty.

Leaving Ridge propped up against the wall, Honeydew moved forward and saw fresh, sweet smelling blood trailing out of the cell. He followed the drops of fresh blood around to the back of the cell, where he found a trap door.

“Ridge, I found something!” he exclaimed, running back over and grabbing him, pulling him along.

They went down the small ladder and found themselves in another hallway, this one much shorter. At the end was another iron door, but this one was surrounded by obsidian. And the door itself was firmly shut.

“Hold on,” said Honeydew, leaving Ridge against a wall again. “I can deal with this.”

He pulled out some TNT and placed it in front of the door. Then he lit it and ran back to Ridge.

The explosion echoed through what felt like the entire fortress, and when the smoke cleared, they saw that the door had been completely blown off its hinges.

“Okay, let's go,” said Honeydew. He went to grab Ridge, but he stopped him by holding up his hand.

“Just leave me here,” said Ridge. “I'll be down as soon as I regain enough energy to be useful.”

“A-are you sure?” asked Honeydew nervously.

Ridge nodded. “I'll be down as soon as possible. Now go!”

Honeydew nodded, then he turned and ran down the stairway, taking Xephos' sword with him.

The stairway was much longer than he expected. The deeper he went, the darker it got. He got closer and closer to bedrock with every step.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, he came to a landing.

He quickly stepped out of the stairway, and he found himself in a large underground cavern lit only by the stalactites of glowstone. The ground he was standing on was a bed of obsidian – possibly a dried lava lake.

And standing right in the center was Israphel. He was holding a shirtless and bloodied Xephos in a chokehold, a sharp golden dagger held firmly against his neck.

“It's about time you came,” said Israphel, smiling evilly. “I was starting to think you didn't care.”

Xephos closed his eyes, his face twisting into a grimace, either from the pain or from his despair at seeing Honeydew in a place like this.

Slowly moving forward, Honeydew held up his hands. “Look...” he said carefully, “I know what you want...”

Israphel raised an eyebrow. “Oh do you?”

Honeydew nodded. “You want revenge. You want to get back at us because we stopped you.”

“Stopped me? You killed me!” exclaimed Israphel, his calm voice carrying a livid undertone.

“Then how did you come back?!” exclaimed Honeydew, still creeping closer.

“Simple,” said Israphel. “My soul respawned. After I escaped the End, I stole enough energy to create a new body.”

“Then how did you escape the End?”

“I think you're getting off topic.” As he said this, he pressed down on the dagger a bit, and a thick trickle of blood dripped from Xephos' neck and down his bare bony chest. Xephos whimpered a bit.

Honeydew froze. If he got any closer, he knew Israphel would kill Xephos.

“How about this...” said Honeydew carefully, his voice shaking. “How about we make a deal...”

“No...” Xephos choked out, blood trickling out of his mouth. “Honeydew...”

Israphel tightened his grip on Xephos' neck, choking him more than he already was. A bit more blood ran down his neck.

“What did you have in mind?” asked Israphel calmly.

Honeydew gulped. “Let me take his place. Let him go, and I'll stay. You can torture me until the day I die. Just... just let him go...”

Xephos was crying now, looking at Honeydew with wide pleading eyes, trying to get him to stop. Trying to tell him to run.

Israphel smiled evilly. “Okay, I accept your offer. I'll let him go.”

Then he slit Xephos' throat.


	6. Sacrifice

Time seemed to slow to a crawl. Honeydew couldn't move; he could only watch as Israphel dragged the dagger across Xephos' throat, ripping his skin open and splattering blood across the obsidian.

Xephos' eyes were wide and shocked. He made a small choking noise before falling to the ground, drowning in his own blood.

Honeydew wasn't aware that he was screaming.

Time was still frozen. He tried to run to his dying friend, but his feet wouldn't move.

Xephos was curled on his side, clutching his throat. For several seconds, he struggled to breathe. He looked at Honeydew with glassy, terrified eyes, trying with his last breath to tell him to run.

And then his eyes closed and he was still.

That was the moment Honeydew's world crashed around him. Xephos was dead.

Suddenly, he was violently grabbed and lifted off the ground. He whipped around to face Israphel, who was only inches away from him.

“Here's the thing,” said Israphel. “I was never going to let your friend go. I just wanted him to live long enough to know that you'll never see the light of day again.”

Suddenly, Honeydew was filled with uncontrollable rage. With a wild scream, he yanked himself free from Israphel's grasp, grabbed the sword he had dropped in his shock, and lunged at the monster who had killed his best friend.

Israphel was clearly not expecting this, because he just barely managed to jump aside and avoid being stabbed in the chest. Honeydew's sword sliced his arm open, drawing blood.

Israphel jumped back and tried to stab Honeydew with his dagger, but Honeydew was too fast. He ducked out of the way, so when Israphel swung the dagger and hit nothing, he was thrown off balance. Honeydew sprung around and kicked Israphel, sending him sprawling. As he fell, Honeydew sliced his back open, just barely missing his spine.

Israphel landed hard and rolled over on his back, only to have Honeydew press his foot to his throat.

“Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now,” snarled Honeydew, breathing heavily, his eyes alight with rage.

Israphel shrugged, looking nonchalant. “Can't think of any,” he said, struggling to speak with Honeydew's foot pressed to his throat.

“That's what I thought,” said Honeydew, his voice suddenly becoming gravely calm. Then he raised the sword and swung it down, slicing Israphel's face open. Blood and gray matter splattered all over the ground.

Slowly, Honeydew stepped back, his hands trembling as he pulled the sword from Israphel's face.

Before he could even turn around, though, the body disappeared in a flash of black smoke.

Honeydew's eyes widened and his face paled. Then Israphel's voice rang out.

“You didn't think that would actually work, did you?” His voice was mocking. “You see, I have this trick up my sleeve. It's called respawning...”

Honeydew whipped around to see Israphel standing right behind him.

With a shout of fear, Honeydew swung at Israphel, but he blocked it with the dagger. He stumbled back, and Israphel sent a volley of vicious attacks at him. Honeydew could barely keep up. The dagger sliced his arm open in a few different places, drawing blood and burning.

Suddenly, he stumbled and fell. A split second later, Israphel had kicked his sword out of reach, and his boot was pressed against his throat.

“Well isn't this a twist?” asked Israphel, smiling evilly. “How about we see if _you_ can respawn..”

He raised his dagger.

“STOP!”

The voice echoed through the cavern. Both Israphel and Honeydew turned to see where the voice had come from.

Ridge was standing tall in the entrance to the cavern. He still looked deathly pale, and his face was still covered in blood, but he also looked pissed.

Israphel smiled and laughed evilly as Ridge came closer.

“Hello, brother,” he said.

Honeydew gasped. “ _What?!_ ”

“You didn't figure it out yet?” asked Israphel, turning to Honeydew. “He's just like me. Of course, I'm a few thousand years older. Something to look forward to, right Ridgey?”

Ridge didn't reply. He simply gave Israphel a murderous glare, his hands starting to glow gold.

Israphel laughed and looked back at Honeydew. “It's why you and all your little friends are so scared of him. It's why he'll launch a nuke at you for stepping on his lawn. It's why he sabotages your bases. Because he's just like me.”

Honeydew looked wide-eyed at Ridge, whose hands were glowing brighter than the glowstone now. Israphel didn't seem to notice, because he was so busy enjoying Honeydew's shock and fear.

“It's also why Xephos and your mutant pet scientist are the only ones who aren't afraid of him,” continued Israphel.

Honeydew narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean...?”

Israphel smiled. “It's because they're like us. Or at least partly like us. They can't respawn and they aren't immortal, but there's evil inside of them. They've got our blood in their veins. Really, you should be thanking me for killing Xephos before you had to do it yourself.”

“Enough!” exclaimed Ridge.

Israphel turned and smirked at him. “What are you going to do, brother? You have no power here. This is my domain.”

Ridge snarled and shot a blast of golden magic at him.

It missed Israphel completely and hit the ground right behind him.

“That's it? That's all you've got?” Israphel was too busy laughing evilly to notice the obsidian and bedrock falling away behind him, exposing the Void.

But Honeydew noticed.

Using every last ounce of strength, he lifted Israphel's foot off of his throat. Israphel was shocked by this and thrown off balance. Honeydew shoved him with his feet, and Ridge appeared. He punched Israphel in the face, knocking him backwards, where he fell through the hole and into the Void, screaming in rage as he disappeared into the darkness.

A second later, Ridge sealed the bedrock again.

Israphel was trapped in the Void.

Gasping for breath, Ridge dropped to his knees, blood dripping from his nose. He had used up the last of his magic sealing the bedrock.

That was when he noticed Honeydew wasn't next to him anymore.

Looking up, he saw Honeydew slowly walking back towards Xephos' body.

The pool of blood had stopped spreading. He was still curled up on his side, his eyes closed. If it weren't for the blood and the wound, Honeydew would have thought he was sleeping.

Slowly, he sank to his knees, tears pooling in his eyes and running down his face. Gently, he pulled Xephos' body into his lap. He absently ran his fingers through his hair, brushing it back out of his face. He put his hand on his chest, but he felt no movement. No heartbeat. No breath. His skin was cold and pale.

Honeydew heard Ridge slowly walking up behind him. He pulled the body closer to him, closing his eyes as tears streamed freely down his face.

“Is there... i-is there a-anything you can do...?” Honeydew asked quietly.

Ridge's answer was incredibly quiet.

“I don't have enough energy left...”

Honeydew began to cry harder, shaking as he sobbed, tightly holding the body of his best friend. Ridge knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

They sat there for several minutes, Honeydew crying and Ridge trying to offer some comfort.

Finally, Ridge realized something. He realized how to save Xephos.

“Honeydew!” he exclaimed suddenly. “We... we can save him!”

Honeydew gasped and whipped around to face him. “What do you mean? How?!”

“Give me your hand,” said Ridge, moving around and taking Xephos' body and laying it flat, before holding out his hand. “I don't have enough energy to do this myself, so I need to borrow some of yours.”

Honeydew held out his hand, and Ridge took it. Then he placed his other hand on Xephos' chest.

Suddenly, a gold light sprang from between Ridge and Honeydew's hands. The light traveled up Ridge's arm and through him before running down his other arm and disappearing into Xephos' chest.

The light spread out under his skin, and a bit of color returned. Honeydew saw this, and when Ridge let go of his hand, he suddenly felt exhausted.

Ridge wasn't done, though. He pulled a small blade out of his sleeve and sliced his palm open. Then he carefully put his bleeding hand over Xephos' cut throat.

“What are you doing?” asked Honeydew.

“He lost too much blood for just a Spark,” said Ridge. “Once I give him enough blood, the energy should restart his heart.”

“Should?!”

Ridge bit his lip, growing paler as he lost more blood. “Almost there...”

Suddenly, there was a loud _CRACK_ , a flash of golden light, and Xephos' eyes snapped open. He gasped for breath, clutching his throat as the cut slowly started to heal.

“Xephos!” shouted Honeydew, enveloping his friend in a hug. “You're alive!”

It took Xephos a moment to get his bearings, but once he did, he smiled and hugged Honeydew back with as much strength as he could manage. Even Ridge sat back and smiled at this.

For that one moment, everything was okay.

“W-what happened?” asked Xephos, his voice hoarse and quiet, as his vocal cords were still healing from being sliced.

Honeydew shook his head. “I'll explain later, Xeph. But we should probably get the hell out of here first.”

Xephos and Ridge both nodded in agreement. A few minutes later, with some difficulty, they were on their feet and moving. Honeydew had Xephos on his back, which was a bit awkward because of their height differences, but Xephos was too weak to walk, and Ridge was too drained from saving them both to help carry him. He didn't even have enough energy to fly.

It was only when they made it back to the long hallway that led to the large stage room did they remember that they still had to deal with the horde of clones.

“Shit, how are we going to get out of here...?” muttered Honeydew, looking up at Ridge.

“W-where are we trying to go?” asked Xephos sleepily, lifting his head from Honeydew's shoulder to look around.

“We're trying to get back to the torture chambers,” said Honeydew. “Lalna, Rythian, and Zoeya are there building a bomb or something.”

“I know how to get there from here...” said Xephos, beginning to look slightly more awake.

Ridge raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“A few times, I tried to teleport to Lalna to try and escape. Israphel blocked my teleports, but I was always able to see the way to where he was,” Xephos explained with some difficulty. “There's a hidden vent right by the door.”

Suddenly, before Ridge or Honeydew could say anything, the door ahead of them swung open and two bloodstained, out of breath figures burst through, slamming the door shut behind them.

It was Sips and Sjin, and they were both completely winded. And laughing.

“Guys!” exclaimed Honeydew.

“Hey, you're alive!” exclaimed Sips.

“What happened?” asked Ridge.

“We killed a few clones,” said Sjin, gesturing to the bloodstains. “Xephos, are you okay?”

“Yeah, why are you covered in blood?” asked Sips.

“And why aren't you standing?” asked Sjin.

“We'll tell you later,” said Xephos tiredly. “Now let's get out of here.”

They quickly found the vent and crawled through it, Ridge in the front, Honeydew and Xephos side by side behind him with Honeydew still supporting Xephos, and Sips and Sjin bringing up the rear. Xephos was nervous at how dark it was until Honeydew found a little chunk of glowstone in his pocket and gave it to him. Xephos kept it clenched tightly in his fist.

Xephos gave Ridge directions – which way to turn, how far to go. It was complicated, and they most definitely would have gotten lost without him. It also helped that the glowstone and his glowing eyes provided a bit of light.

Finally, they reached the already open vent that led down into the torture chamber. Ridge jumped down first so that he could catch Xephos, who Honeydew lowered down to him. Then he, Sips, and Sjin jumped down afterward.

Almost instantly, Lalna, Rythian, and Zoeya were on them.

“Thank gods you guys are alive!” exclaimed Zoeya.

“How are you alive?” Lalna asked, looking right at Xephos.

“What do you mean...?” asked Xephos.

“You died! I felt it,” exclaimed Lalna.

“We all did,” added Rythian.

“Well... I'm fine now,” said Xephos, even though he still looked like hell – pale, shirtless, emaciated, covered in blood, and still too weak to stand on his own.

“Lalna, what the hell are you building?” asked Ridge, looking over Lalna's shoulder to see the bomb. It looked like it was ready to explode at any second – it was a large mess of metal and mysterious black fluids that was humming and vibrating.

“I'm almost done with it...” said Lalna, his voice suddenly becoming deathly quiet and his face paling – it was noticeable, because his appearance had returned to mostly normal, with only a few streaks of black hair and a lingering purple color in his green eyes. Not only that, but he had also found a red lab coat and some boots, and his right arm was in a sling. The bandages wrapped around his right hand were already bloodstained.

“I don't really like the way you said that...” said Ridge, narrowing his eyes and following Lalna as he turned back to the bomb. “And when the hell did you make a blueprint for a bomb?!”

“You've been trapped in stasis for a month,” said Lalna. “You missed a lot.”

“Okay, then tell me what this bomb is going to do,” demanded Ridge.

Lalna ignored him and set about tightening the last few bolts and typing something into the screen on the side. The others noticed how scared he looked.

“Lalna...” growled Ridge, his voice dangerously low. “You're hiding something. What is it?”

Lalna was trembling now, biting his lip and staring wide-eyed and nervous at the bomb as he added the last few details.

“Oh for fuck's sake, what the hell is going on?!” exclaimed Honeydew.

The room went deathly quiet as everyone waited for an answer.

Slowly, Lalna stood up from his kneeling position by the bomb, and he turned around to face the others. He was deathly pale and visibly shaking, and he looked at them with the eyes of a man just sentenced to death.

“There's a problem...” he said quietly, his voice cracking a bit. “There's a... a-a bit of an issue with... uh... T-the bomb is just... just a prototype, so it... it can't...”

He gulped, unable to make eye contact with anyone. Instead, he just looked at the ground. He clenched and unclenched his fist, and he rocked back and forth on his toes.

“Lalna, what is going on...?” asked Rythian, his voice quiet yet serious.

Lalna looked up at the Mage, and a new wave of despair washed over his features. He closed his eyes before continuing.

“The, uh... the bomb is j-just a prototype, so... so it can't... tell the difference... between us and the clones...”

The silence that followed was deafening. All eyes looked between a shocked Rythian and a petrified Lalna.

“Wait a second...” whispered Zoeya. “You're saying that if you set off that bomb, it will kill both of you as well...?”

Lalna nodded. “I'm sorry,” he said, his voice breaking. “There's... there's no other way...” He risked looking up, but that was a mistake. The looks on everybody's faces showed nothing but pain.

“That isn't all...” mumbled Lalna quietly, his voice nothing more than a whisper. “The bomb... it'll also destroy all the Nether portals. Even the ones that haven't been created yet. It... it'll seal off the Nether and trap everything still here inside of it.”

Ridge shook his head. “What if you're in the Overworld?”

Lalna shook his head. “It would still get us. The only possible way for us to survive is to stay here.”

“What do you mean?” asked Rythian, his voice strained.

Lalna gestured to the containment tubes lining the walls. “We can hide in these. They should protect us from the bomb.”

“Should?!”

“Look,” said Lalna, his expression pained, “we have three options. We could not set off the bomb and try and kill everything ourselves, which will definitely result in all of us dying, we can set off the bomb on a timer and escape with everyone else where we'll die in the Overworld in front of everybody, or we stay here and let everybody else escape. The bomb will kill the clones and zombies, but we'll survive and everybody else will be safe.”

“But won't you be trapped here...?” asked Xephos quietly, his face pale with horror.

Lalna closed his eyes and nodded. “Yeah...” he whispered. “But... but it'll be okay. We'll... we'll figure something out.”

“You better figure something out fast,” said Ridge regretfully. “There are a lot of clones and zombies heading this way.”

Everything was silent for a moment. Suddenly, Zoeya pulled Rythian away from the group and started talking to him quietly. Lalna couldn't hear what they were saying, so he turned to his friends.

Honeydew and Xephos quickly came forward and hugged him. Lalna bit his lip and returned the hug, doing his best to remain composed.

“I'm scared...” whispered Lalna, so quiet that only Honeydew and Xephos could hear him. “I'm probably gonna die...”

“You've died before...” mumbled Honeydew, wrapping his arms tighter around the scientist. “You always come back...”

“Well... hopefully I'll come back this time...” said Lalna with a small smile.

“Don't worry,” said Xephos, taking a step back and leaning on Honeydew for support. “We'll find a way to fix this. We always do.”

Lalna smiled tiredly. “Just stay out of trouble.” He glanced over their shoulders. “That goes for you too,” he said, gesturing to Sips, Sjin, and Ridge.

“No promises,” said Sjin, forcing a smile, even though he looked like he was about to start crying.

Suddenly, they heard a cacophony of footsteps coming closer and closer.

“I think that means it's time for you to go...” whispered Lalna, his voice cracking and his expression finally showing how much fear he was really feeling.

Final goodbyes were exchanged, and a minute later, Sips and Sjin were up in the vents. Ridge stepped up to Lalna and put a hand on his shoulder.

“I promise I'll help these guys find a way to get back here,” he said.

Lalna smiled and nodded. “Just as long as you keep them safe.”

Ridge nodded and walked over to where he was standing just beneath the vents.

Zoeya and Rythian walked back over. It was clear that both of them had been crying.

“I'll see you guys later...” said Zoeya quietly to Rythian and Lalna. Then she turned and walked over to Ridge, who gave her a lift up into the vents.

Xephos and Honeydew both looked ready to cry. Xephos still looked ready to drop.

“Don't worry,” said Honeydew. “We'll find a way to get back here and save your sorry asses.” He attempted to joke, but it fell flat.

“Look, even if you can't find a way to get back here,” said Lalna, “we'll still find a way to communicate somehow. Just... just don't forget about us.”

Rythian nodded quietly, his eyes distant.

“We promise,” said Xephos, his voice cracking and tears finally appearing. Not wanting them to see, however, he quickly turned and, with Honeydew's help, they disappeared into the vents.

Only Ridge was left.

“You know nobody's gonna want to leave without you.”

“Then tell them we're dead,” choked out Lalna. “Anything to get them to safety.”

Ridge nodded regretfully. He started to turn away, but then he stopped.

“Be careful...” he said quietly. “Even though Israphel's gone, I don't think everything's over yet. Just... stay safe until we can get back to you.”

They both nodded silently.

“Good luck,” said Ridge with a small, pained smile before disappearing into the vents.

Lalna and Rythian simply stood for a moment as the gravity of their situation crashed over their heads. The next few minutes would determine if they live or die.

“W-why don't you barricade the doors...” Lalna said to Rythian. “I'll set up the bomb...”

Rythian wordlessly obliged, and he and Lalna got to work.

**XXX**

The group made it back to the prison through the vents. Once back, Honeydew led them to the tunnel where the others were hiding.

As soon as they made it, they were met by a flood of voices. Lomadia came out of nowhere and hugged Xephos so tight that he almost fell over. Nano ran up and hugged Ridge, glad to see that her brother was still alive and mostly okay, even if he was a bit bloody.

It was also Nano who realized who was missing.

“Wait...” she said quietly, “where's Lalna? And Rythian?”

The tunnel went completely silent.

Finally, Ridge spoke up. “They, uh... they stayed behind... We'll explain when we get out of here...”

Lomadia shook her head, her eyes watering. “No, we... we can't leave without them!” She glanced at Zoeya for support, but she was uncharacteristically quiet.

“Guys, we're running out of time...” Sjin suddenly whispered. “We have to go...”

“Why?” demanded Nano, starting to look frantic. “What's going on?”

“They're dealing with the clones...” said Ridge carefully. “And I'm sorry, but we all have to leave _now_!”

After a few more threats, they reluctantly accepted his orders, and they turned and followed the tunnel back to the portal.

**XXX**

“They're out...” mumbled Lalna, his eyes glowing purple as he stared in the general direction of the portal. “It's time...”

Rythian was still silent. He stepped into one of the containment tubes – an unused one on the opposite side of the room from where they had been held – and he lowered it closed. They had broken the locks so that they'd be able to open it from the inside.

Lalna set the timer on the bomb for 30 seconds. That should give him enough time to get inside the other tube they had prepared.

Checking once more, he saw that the others were through the portal.

Then he took a deep breath. His hand trembling, he pressed the button on the detonator.

As soon as he saw the timer start to count down, he sprinted for the tube and climbed inside, sealing the door.

The sound of the timer ticking away and the clones bashing against the door was instantly drowned out, and the only thing he could hear was his frantic heavy breathing.

He started thinking about being held captive. They kept him in that tube between torture sessions, and to contain him. They had added a small pipe that constantly let off small drips of water on his head. It hadn't bothered him at first, but after he lost his amulet, it eventually hurt so much he started shielding himself with his right hand, which was the cause for all the blood.

Trying to calm down, he glanced over at Rythian and saw that the Mage was sitting, pushing himself as far away from the bomb as the container would allow.

Lalna's legs were shaking so badly that he needed to sit as well.

The bomb had 10 seconds left until it exploded.

9

8

The door was shoved open.

7

6

5

One of his own clones saw the bomb and ran to it. He dropped it before it could get there.

4

3

Several clones spotted them in the tubes and ran for them.

2

Lalna closed his eyes.

1

There was a deafening blast, a blinding flash of light, and Lalna felt a sharp electric pain shoot through his head and chest before everything went black.


	7. Those Left Behind

Ridge was standing right next to the portal when the bomb went off.

Bolts of electricity shot from the portal and flew off into the distance to presumably kill any clone or Bedrock zombie that was left. Then the portal itself exploded in a flash of purple and electricity.

The explosion flung Ridge backwards, and he landed flat on his back on the ground, unable to hear anything for a moment.

After the shock wore off, everything went quiet. Ridge lifted his head and looked at the portal. It had gone out.

The Nether was sealed.

Slowly, he heard the voices of some of the others. Mainly Lomadia. She was asking what happened.

Ridge slowly stood up and looked back at the others. They had spread out now, but all of them were staring wide-eyed at the portal, and the air was buzzing with electricity and confusion.

Lomadia was standing right there, staring up at him and trying to speak to him. Zoeya was in the back of the crowd, crying.

Ridge cleared his throat, forcing his voice to be steady and his face to be emotionless. He looked right at Lomadia and Nano when he talked, seeing as they were the ones who had been kept in the dark about the entire thing, and they both had a close relationship with one of the two trapped in the Nether.

“What just happened,” said Ridge, his voice steady, “is that Lalna built a bomb, and it exploded. It killed all the clones and zombies, but it also killed all the portals. The Nether is sealed, and Lalna and Rythian are still trapped there. Everybody needs at least _some_ medical help first, and then we'll find a way to get back to the Nether and save them.”

Ridge turned away from the crowd to avoid seeing their reactions. Instead, he looked through the empty portal frame, as if he could see through the Void and into the Nether.

“Don't worry, guys,” he whispered to the thin air between the obsidian. “We're coming for you...”

**XXX**

**Epilogue**

Everything was dark. He was scared, and in pain. There was a voice in the distance, saying something. His chest hurt.

Slowly, things started to come into place. The voice was calling his name, and the owner of the voice was shaking him by the shoulders.

With a gasp, Lalna forced his eyes open. Rythian, who had been kneeling next to him and shaking him by the shoulder, sat back and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank gods...” he muttered, closing his eyes and running a hand through his hair. “I thought you'd died.”

“You'd be so lucky...” grumbled Lalna, his sarcasm barely detectable. Slowly, he sat up and noticed that there was a blistering wound in the center of his chest. Glancing over, he saw Rythian had the same wound. He assumed it was from the bomb's electricity hitting him. The tubes had kept it from killing them.

Lalna groaned and rubbed his head. It was throbbing, and it didn't help that the shock seemed to have caused a malfunction in his pacemaker. His heart was beating much faster than normal, and he could barely breathe.

Rythian stood up and offered his hand to the downed scientist. “We should probably get out of here.”

It was only after Lalna stood up that he realized why leaving would be a good idea.

They were surrounded by their corpses. Many of the clones in the room with them had died from the blast, but glancing out one of the sets of doors, they saw that the dark hall was littered with bodies.

Lalna gulped. “Let's... let's get some supplies first. Then we'll leave.” The sight of all the bodies made him want to vomit.

They wordlessly walked through the silent fortress, stumbling over the corpses of their clones. They found food, water, bandages, tools, and building supplies. Lalna noticed that there were no potions, but they could easily make some.

Finally, when they had enough to survive, they found an exit and ended up in a large courtyard. Lalna remembered it from the day he had come through the portal and found the fortress.

They left through the unguarded gate and found themselves in front of the empty obsidian portal.

“Do you think they'll find a way to rescue us...?” Rythian asked quietly.

“Yeah,” said Lalna after a long pause. “I'm sure they will...”

Without another word, they both turned and walked off into the Nether, leaving the slowly crumbling fortress behind.

**To Be Continued...**


End file.
